Arsenal: Cech, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kolasinac, Ozil, Alexis, Lacazette
Subs: Ospina, Mertesacker, Coquelin, Wilshere, Iwobi, Welbeck, Giroud
Arsenal’s recent home record was shattered this evening after defensive errors cost them three times and despite hammering Man Utd in terms of possession and chances they went down 3-1.
Arsene Wenger sprang something of a surprise with his team selection, including Alexandre Lacazette who he had previously ruled out because of a groin injury, otherwise the team was unchanged from the one that beat Huddersfield 5-0 on Wednesday.
After a great start in the previous game, the opposite was true tonight. Laurent Koscielny gave the ball away with a careless cross-field pass, United took it forward, and created a chance for Antonio Valencia whose low shot went through the legs of both Nacho Monreal and Petr Cech to put his side ahead. 0-1.
Alexis could only hit the wall with a free kick from a dangerous position as Arsenal looked to respond quickly, but things got worse when Mustafi made a terrible mistake, giving the ball away and when United came forward Lingard beat Cech to double their lead in the 11th minute. 0-2.
It was the German’s last action as he went off injured, to be replaced by Alex Iwobi, with Arsene Wenger reshuffling his formation and going to a back four. Lacazette almost got one back in the 19th minute, reacting first when a corner dropped from close range and he was unlucky to see the ball deflect just wide of the post. Replays showed the Frenchman had been hauled back and a penalty would not have been a generous decision.
A Ramsey shot deflected over, and another free kick from the edge of the box provided Ozil with a chance to pull one back but Ozil’s goalbound effort was cleared by Ashley Young.
That was followed by an astonishing passage of play which saw Lacazette ignore Iwobi and take a shot which deflected onto the bar, and when it fell to Xhaka on the edge of the box the Swiss international curled his shot just wide.
At the other end a United counter was almost turned into his own net by Kolasinac, Iwobi fired over with his left foot, and an amazing block by Matic denied Ramsey when the ball broke to him on the penalty spot.
Hector Bellerin was next to have a go, smashing a shot which de Gea palmed away and the United keeper made another great stop when a Sanchez free kick deflected off Lukaku, sparking another scramble in the United area which Arsenal couldn’t make the most of and the visitors took their two goal lead into the break.
There were no changes at half-time, and as poorly as we started the first period we began the second in style. A great run from Ramsey saw him beat the offside trap and when Sanchez played in the ball in, the Welsh international laid it off to Lacazette who fired home to make it 1-2.
It was almost cancelled out moments later when Lingard found himself through on goal, his shot was saved by Cech, the ball bounced and rebounded off the post and a follow up shot was blocked by Monreal. Iwobi then forced de Gea into a save with a powerful effort from the edge of the box, and another effort from the Nigerian deflected over the bar.
It was truly breathless stuff, and an incredible double save from de Gea denied Lacazette first and then Alexis who thought he had a close range tap-in. Rojo picked up a yellow card for a foul on Sanchez, and as Arsenal pressed for an equaliser United got another.
United countered down our right after Alexis lost the ball high up the pitch, Koscielny pushed Pogba to the byline but his international teammate got the better of him and Lingard had a tap-in after Xhaka switched off despite tracking his run into the box. 1-3.
Wenger then sent on Welbeck for Xhaka in the 70th minute, Bellerin was yellow-carded for a beautiful foul on Young, and before the manager could make his final change bringing on Olivier Giroud for Lacazette, Paul Pogba was sent off for a foul on the Spanish full-back. The Frenchman had no intention of playing the ball and stamped on the back of Bellerin’s legs, the straight red was more than merited.
It made Wenger change his mind with the sub, taking off Kolasinac instead, as Arsenal looked to pile on and find a way back into the game. Welbeck’s deflected shot was tipped over by de Gea, and when Ramsey put in a decent ball the former United man couldn’t keep his header down.
United sat deep to defend, and Koscielny got a yellow for a foul on Lukaku when he was the last man but a long way from goal. Monreal got a header on target and Andre Marriner made a huge error when Welbeck was clearly taken down in the box but the referee waved play on without awarding the penalty.
It would have made the five minutes of added time much more interesting, but in spite of all the chances there was no way through and in the end the three points went to United.
No need of negativity.We played well.kos and mustafi had a bad day.We were all over the team and if not for de Gea we were almost level..I believe in this team #coyg
If you have to lose that’s the way to do it. Proper United / Arsenal match that was.
At least Pogba got sent off. Preening cunt.
the cringe when they was celebrating, any arsenal players that do that can be promptly sold.
Arsenal fans we could live in this oh we did so well, another day another result, world, or realise that Arsenal were hugely inadequate at both ends of the field. Comical defending and the finishing with all grace of a baboon falling off a cliff while fingering its own butt. Wenger has put together a clownish defense that is not good enough to win the league. No cover for that defense either. These results shouldn’t surprise anyone. 25% possession and that moaning twat’s team scored three and all the possession and chances in the world and 1 lousy goal to… Read more »
You are seriously too drunk
I can understand your frustrations…but you can’t always win all games can you?..and we played very well( except the fuckups) … What’s happened has happened…now on to the next game where we need a strong performance…the reality is that we’re not going to win the league this season..no chance…so we aim for top 4 and this loss is a hiccup but we’re still in the race…so we keep moving forward!
This isn’t the first time Kolasinac has walked back to goal despite losing the ball. Koscielny made a bad decision but Kolasinac had 6 seconds between losing the ball and Valencia scoring to jog back into position. He does this all the time. The complete lack of effort in these situations is embarrassing and his semi-occasional attacking exploits don’t excuse this.
Bullshit
Very enjoyable game and disappointing result but we can hold our heads high. Solid performance.
No that wasn’t solid. Not by a long shot. It was passionate, brilliant and maddening tho.
Correct, entertaining game, and a good performance from us, but not solid
Solid performance in attack ( corrected it ;] )
Hmm. Could have gone either way, that game. United were fast on the break and defended solidly; we were better much of the time, but naive defensively and once again not clinical in front of goal, despite all the shots we had. A cracking game.
should have had 2 penalties too, lucky United…
Please spare the “glorious loser” stuff. It shows how far we’ve fallen.
Our purgatory continues.
It seems finishing 5th / 6th is now OK for most on here, as long as we lose gloriously. We all new how Maureen would play and we played into his sneering hands yet again. But that’s fine we played great!
We gave away 3 points cheaply inside, how long? 15 minutes? This is very frustrating and this is the same old arsenal that I know under AW. And again we made their goal keeper like the best in the universe
Lol. You know your club’s completely collapsed when the fans are praising losses.
Maybe us fans actually enjoy football. I know, shocking.
Football’s great. Winning’s better.
That’s not what collapsed looks like …
I hope we “collapse” with 15 shots on target, over 800 passes and 75% of the ball every week.
99 games in 100 playing like that Arsenal would win. Mustafi though.. just kick the ball into the stands mate. Struth.
Totally agree, some of the stupid moronic comments on here are just bizarre. We threw a game away yet again and people are saying things like that’s not a bad way to lose me at least Pogba got sent off. A complete losers mentality, Wenger hasn’t brain washed fans to accept capitulations like this, the absolute state of some of our fans.
A good performance but hugely depressing as it could not have gone better for that total cunt mourine, who got exactly what he came for with two early goals from mistakes and a counter attack in the second half. Cut and fucking paste.
I know we lost but the way we are playing we could very well end up 2nd. #believe
Believe? Bah. I stopped believing ages ago. This is typical Arsenal. Lots of possession, lots of chances and nothing to show for it while throwing a bit of abject defending into the mix.
We would have at least taken a point if it were not for that exceptional keeper De Gea. Can’t fault the team for not trying. Laca, Ozil and Ramsey were superb. But Mus and Kos lost us the game with their annoying mistakes. On the bright side though, at least we are still ahead of sp*rs and just one behind Liverpool. Out of the title race but top three still a reality. Hope we can bounce back from this. COYG !! On another note, fuck off Andre martiner for denying us two blatant penalties (Welbz and Laca).
No need for negativity but there is need for positivity because when we were 0-2 down, did you see the team react? I did, and I fucking loved it. Some of our fans always complain about that so I think credit should be given where credit is dued.. We could easily have won this game if any other goalkeeper was in uniteds goal today. Keep this up!
Exactly. No time for negativity, we were brilliant bar the 2 mistakes and if that wasn’t the craziest game I’ve ever seen then we would have had them easily. We’re playing well, we should back the lads.
We played well but we’re fucking Arsenal.
Fuck being positive, nothing’s changed in over 10 years.
Wenger out!
We still don’t have out midfield sorted against a team capable of pressing. The miss don’t dribble and the defense just isn’t suited to always take the ball out.
Wilshere for Xhaka is a needed experiment. Wilshere isn’t a defensive upgrade, but he Canberra dribble, and hopefully he’ll Ray healthy.
Overall, team gave it a great go. Their goalie was just too good, and the Moo got his tactics right again, which is killing me.
Still much to fight for!
Weird, that happened just when we were getting the wind in our sales. Oh well! COYG! Viva la Wenger!
Proud of the team. COYG!
Very proud of the team. Wenger fucked it up, though. It wasn’t United that killed the game, it was his awful substitutions.
haha behave
We visibly changed our approach when Giroud and Welbeck came on. That tells me that it was Wenger’s decision to do this, as opposed to direct play down the middle, which worked remarkably in the first half despite a masterclass performance from De Gea. And we created almost nothing of note. Dozens of crosses to no effect. Tell me if I’m wrong.
I could tell you you’re wrong, but I sense that nothing I say would change your mind.
What a put-down. Bet you’re proud of yourself.
A put-down?! haha is that what you thought this was??
Seems like you’re gonna be disappointed twice tonight.
Play through the middle…. through 2 banks of 5…. and then after the red a bunker of 9….. You must be a proper tactician!
33 shots – 15 on target. David De Gea was frustratingly unreal today. we created almost nothing of note you say. Statistics say your wrong, therefore i can tell you your wrong 🙂
Sorry but ut was Kosh and Mustafi that killed the game.
Those are mistakes. I don’t excuse them, but our ability to get something out of the game was stifled due to a tactical shift in the second half after Giroud and Welbeck were brought on. It didn’t feel like we were playing with a man advantage.
That’s because we actually got screwed with the sent off. Instead of occasionally attacking, they decided to close the shop and put all 10 players in the box.
Correct. Problem has been we lack an outlet in midfield in these circumstances given loss of Santi (for 3+ seasons now) When that is unavailable the backs come under duress and the mistakes will happen. Make those mistakes against a side like United and you are punished. I mentioned this after Huddersfeld when Lacazette tried to play out from the back and they got the ball back just at edge of penalty box (one of a number of instances). We escape against a lesser team but its just asking for it against a top team. United also cover our flanks… Read more »
Koscielny is on the decline and Mustafi was never that good
Except in the last game, and the game before
Never seen Arsenal play this good and lose, but People here were saying that our back three are prone to mistakes and that we’ll be punished by better teams and it happened.
And Xhaka.
I hate to single out any one player, but I really am losing my patience with Xhaka. I backed him for so long, but in the last month or so my desire for him to come good has subsided. I’m done with him. He has a very nice left foot that is capable of wonderful passes when he has time and space, but he can’t defend for shit. He tries to mask it by flying into tackles. But he’s just a case in point that being tall doesn’t make you a good defender. His apparent amnesia for United’s third was… Read more »
Agree totally. Xhaka was very poor today.
Wenger out etc etc
Never said that.
I thought that was the implication
Players got tired towards the end …
Fairly sure it was 2-0 before the substitutions.
United still had 11 players after Pogba got sent off.
We fought like champions – we deserved more than what we got. COYG!
In fairness though, major props to de Gea. He was unbelievable.
Fuck De Gea with his bum fluff
I hate that United prick
Fuck me! If it were not for De Gea we’d be 4-2 up before they scored the third.
Pretty sure 7am is gonna have a field day with this one. xG would’ve been 6-2 by my reconning.
Shocking defending, solid going forward. Onwards and upwards COYG
All well and good saying if not for this, that or the other. The big problem is they do have a world class keeper and I’m afraid we don’t. Cech is looking distinctly average. Gaurentee De Gea would have saved at least one we conceded today. We need to talk about Laurent Koscielny at some point too but tonight’s not the night. Despite the loss I’m proud that we had the fight in us, had a go and didn’t shrink. The errors are something else which are extremely frustrating after recent progress. Lacazette, Ramsey and Ozil are becoming something pretty… Read more »
Glad someone else noticed the absolute stinker he produced today..
So hard to know how to feel about that. On the one hand, we played well. On the other, Man Utd did all they had to do after we gifted them a two goal head start.
Sanchez did my fucking nut today. He is very much in Theo “generally quite shit, does one productive thing a game” territory. Seems to always get a free pass
Agreed. De Gea’s double save was phenominal but in my book that is a horrendous miss that should have been 2-2
Just had to lift it off the floor!
Just!
Works harder for starters. Theo goes through games with half a dozen touches.
He has been quite walcotty this season but if he signs up like Walcott did in 2013 I will be so glad..
Agreed, I thought he had a terrible game, if Ozil played like that he’d be ruined by the fans and media
Proud of the team… there keeper had the game of his life… they lost progba who is a nasty rodent and they will lose to city so we will be back at them in no time….
Come on you gunners
Literally everyone: United will be looking for an early goal, so that they can sit back and try to challenge on the counter.
Arsenal: Hold my beer
Back to reality. They were better when it counted. No negativity meant of course, but this is the same old-same old once again this season.
No this is different from the usual annoying gutless capitulations. Bit of luck and we would have beaten them.
We reacted at 0-2 down at home, and in the big games against better teams with better goal keepers that simply isn’t mature or good enough. Better maybe in eventual fight but sorry when you’re already 2 down against man utd after 11mins it’s pretty clear that we haven’t learned from the same old mistakes. We need to perform well at home from minute 1, not react with heart and desperation.
Bit more luck, less De Gea and better defending.
You know, when we play absolutely shit without heart, all I hear is “I just can’t stand that the players aren’t trying”, “no passion”, etc etc, and that everything is forgivable if the players who pull on the shirt work their arses off. Well tell me they didn’t today! We cocked up and dropped points, mainly down to individual errors, but frankly none of the boys were disgraceful, they all put in a massive shift! So while no one wants a loss, that’s how I want us to play regardless, and if we lose? So be it. We’ll win a… Read more »
Well said
Yeh but you’re missing the pivotal first 11 mins where that attitude was most needed and completely non-existent. That was and still is the main problem against the top teams, starting like you mean to finish.
Disappointed with the result but oh my what a game. Haven’t watched such a performance in a long time. Pity that defensive errors cost the team and Marriner missed a pen or two… The boys deserved more than they got.
Wenger before the game: We haven’t pushed the self destruct button for a while…
Kosh: wait a minute Boss. I’ll give that fucking knob a real pushing.
Mustafi: “my turn, my turn”!
Xhaka: Oh for fuck sakes I can’t watch this. I’m switching off.
Its become part of the DNA.
Its lurking there somewhere just around the corner.
what a game, from a footballing perspective. cheez!
We played really well and it is gutting to lose through two preventable errors. Thought Sanchez was anonymous. Hope we sell him in January.
Mustafi and Kos both have a stinker.
I’m so angry with this game, this was a cut and paste job from any game against a top team in the banter era. I don’t want to hear that we were unlucky, or that De Gea saved them, we beat ourselves with stupid defending and no trackinh back. There is no point in having players like Alexis, Ozil, Lacazette if you are not going to properly coach a defence. We are crying out for a Matic type midfielder, but Wenger again and again refuses to buy one as it goes against his footballing philosophy & it’s killing us. Wenger… Read more »
Individual mistakes from Mustafi who has been solid lately. You can’t really do much to that as a manager, a top player should know better. Maybe should have rested Koscielny midweek though
Agreed you can’t legislate for that but how long have we cried out for a proper DM?
Wenger just won’t buy one, doesn’t see it as a priority & is happy to have someone sub standard like Coq there. Every top team has a great DM in their team, we don’t and again and again it costs us, it’s ridiculous and continually costs us games.
NO he’s right.
We do not have the players in the middle to control a game and afford the backline relief from duress.
Playing out from the back was always a liability with the flanks covered by fast players.
The centrebacks had little choice but to risk low percentage passes from the back and/or hold the ball longer.
That said, there is also the other argument equally correct that we should not have tried to play the ball from the back and maybe instead try to hit them on the counter.
‘we were unlucky’
‘de gea was man of the match, says it all’ ‘on another day we would have done ‘em’
‘ref shoulda given a pen at 1-0 woulda changed the game’
Is all the above positive enough to be labelled a ‘true fan’?
or maybe it is just true, apart from the penalty bit … that came near the end
ref did well to be fair, mostly
Wasnt worst game. much better than the ones agains Lpool or Mshitty. But please please tell our defenders first 10mins are not warm ups…
Despite all the upcoming ‘We wuz robbed, but for the Goalie etc’. Facts are played Pool, City & United, conceded 11 goals lost all 3 matches. Nothings going to change in the near future.
Amazing response, terrible referee decision on the Welbz incident, but those don’t excuse us from defending like wankblasters in the first 10 minutes. Take those errors apart and we deserved something from that game. Feels worse because we really did have a chance to win that.
At least three penalties that Mariner didn’t dare give us.
They’ll lose to city next week anyway and it’ll be back to where we were.
How many times has Xhaka switched off and cost us points this season?
A great effort in the sec half attempting to come back from a 2-nil down, but that 3rd goal just shows that we are yet to be a genuine title contenders. Even though we dominated, utd came out as a better team tonight. Saying that I believe we can fight with the likes of Liverpool and spurs for 4th.
De Gea made 13 saves, Xhaka put a sitter wide and Young cleared off the line. Offensively I would say this was our best game this season. Defensively, we were ridiculous and Mustafi & Koscielny owe the team & fans an apology as far as I’m concerned.
Completely agree. And the obvious penalty for Welbek needs mentioning, it would have changed the last few minutes of the game.
I’m disgusted by the defending at the start but can’t help feeling positive about the performace
Our Arsenal is back
Koscielny lost us the game. Plain and simple. Because in attack we played really well and shit happens. I don’t see how Kos can keep his authority as captain now.
Mustard cost us the game. We were more than in it at 0-1 !
Stupid autocorrect !
That was probably the best match of the season. Their keeper made the difference. End of
Proud and inspired by that performance! Just too open at the back for the counter and in the beginning the defense was a bit school playground, not well organised.
Keep playing like that and we will get what we need over this season
Two of the worst conceded goals ever. Thursday night COED league mistakes.
Unreal.
What’s a COED league?
Genuine question i have no idea
Mixed game between males and females. For once I don’t blame Wenger. At the same time, does any other team make that make mistake?…Let alone twice in 10 minutes. It’s an outrage and I’m pissed off, especially at the people whom are saying it’s ok because we played well. Fuck that! Win the match. Be the team that doesn’t make school boy errors. Ahhhhhhjjjhh!
GAAaaah!
that is all.
Just when the back 3 get praised throughout the week they go on and concede those schoolboy goals. In general the performance was good and the team showed character. Cannot fault Wenger either with his Lacazette mind games and substitutions.
If only we can defend as well as we attack. COYG.
De gea had a 96% save rate that game average is 60%. We had 15 shots on target usually 6 would go in.
the first two goals fucked us up the third was inevitable considering the pressing.
we really should have had a penalty though would have made the last 6mins interesting.
This defeat does not leave me as sour as the capitulation v liverpool or the awful refereeing that cost us v mancity, stoke and watford
The third goal was not inevitable. Kos should not have let Pogba walk past him and Granit could have bothered to stick his leg out.
He didn’t walk passed him. They both fought tooth and nail and the bigger dude won.
If they didn’t score then they probably would of later on anyway
What about Cech? Is he considered a ghost now? He’s pretty responsible for not doing a thing on the 3rd goal
Final score should be 8-3
De Gea made 14 saves. The most in a game in PL history. We played well. We should have had a penalty, but mistakes cost us.
If that Stat is true i feel a little better. Fergie signed a keeper for 20 million at a time our club record signing was 17 odd million. I think money does make a difference. We could do with a 100 million and couple of Lacazette level players. Must say it will be a disaster if both Sanchez and Ozil leave. I would keep Ozil and build a team around him. He really is a club legend at this point.
Despite the unbelievable mistakes that generated the first two goals (Mustafi’s inexcusable, sorry) the most depressing moment was the 3-1 counter. Man UTD are so predictable, and yet we fell for the most obvious of traps. 75 percent possession against the usual, unsurprising mou bus parking, and we manage to lose 3-1. Even if I agree we looked good at times it is hard to see the glass half full. Yes, Welbeck deserved a pen. Yes, play the game from scratch and we will probably win. But the reality is we gifted mou 3 points at home when it’s been… Read more »
Funnily enough we went three at the back to stop those sort of goals being scored. But with the 433 formation we played probably our best attacking football of the season.
The fact that we completely dominated and still lost.. hurts me the most!
The fact that we need a presence like Pogba in the midfield was quiet clearly evident today.
Mustafi just when I was starting to like him. Oh my word! You can’t just limp off right after that can you?
I shouldn’t be saying it.. but I am going to disgruntled if it wasn’t actually a serious injury.
Should have had two clear penalties.. fuck Mariner for that.
But then again.. all said and done.. well played boys. Keep your heads held high.
This is so heartbreaking I genuinely wonder how we will get back from this.
If the goalkeepers were interchanged, we’d have won by a cricket score. Really think we need an upgrade on Cech.
Our defenders should be ashamed. United came with ZERO surprises and somehow they managed to find a way to let the rest of the team down massively. We absolutely dominated. DeGea saves them yes, but is there nothing to be said for a toe poke instead of looking for the roof of the net from a yard? We were great but our mistakes were inexcusable. This hurts so much. We should be a point behind united, not seven. But because of deGea and our weak weak weak defensive play we’ve faceplanted again. Nobody cares about how we played ultimately. It’s… Read more »
Even after the two goals i was feeling we would beat them like 1st 5-2 win over spurs yesrs ago. But de gea was brilliant and the third goal killed us.
Not worried about the team, a superb attacking performance. Only thing worrying me is Mustafi’s tendency to go from world class to championship level in a week. You just can’t make mistakes like that at this level.
It was like one of the champ manager games where you lose the fucking plot because the game is being too unrealistic.
Have to applaud the effort. Nothing to complain about there. Some poor finishing (De Gea made a lot of saves but most of them were routine enough, only a few were fantastic) & shocking defending did for us. Ridiculous to try to blame the ref who had a good game overall. (Welbeck penalty that was not given aside though his linesman should take the blame for that one) No point losing any sleep over where we are. Nothing has changed with regards to our chances for the season since the season started: we’re a good enough side with a decent… Read more »
I think that in a way Arsene cost us our momentum when he opted for Welbeck for Xhaka instead of Jack. We were creating enough as it was. All we needed was extra drive through the middle. Jack could have provided that. Drive and movement. Two things Xhaka couldn’t possibly provide. And in a game stretched as that? Two things you need.
Well apart from the disastrous first ten minutes I thought we were outstanding and a joy to watch. That said I hate it when that prick wins hate it!!!!!! I love Kos and Mustafi but seriously WHAT THE FUCK were they doing? Arrrgggghhhh so bloody angry with them. On the other side of the coin I was absolutely delighted with Lacazette error in not picking out Iwobi aside, he monstered their defence all game long they really struggled with him. I know Alexis is probably already gone but I genuinely believe we should keep Ozil at all costs. Love to… Read more »
The are definitely positives to take from this. Aisling defensive errors aside we made probably the second best side in the league look vastly inferior.
Also, we played 4-5-1 really well after Iwobi came on for Mustafi. Who’d have thought?
there are certainly encouraging stuff but its such a frustrating game to watch.
everytime we get them on the ropes and it looks like we can get something out of the game then boom, a defensive mistake and another goal conceded.
Disgraceful from Pogba.
Classic late-Wenger performance in a lot of ways – the better team lost thanks to some suicidal individual defensive errors exposed by a naively attacking approach in the first few minutes of the game, followed by an inspired goalkeeping performance from the opposite keeper coupled with a real inability to finish off chances.